1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a droplet discharge apparatus provided with a drying function of a recording medium.
2. Related Art
To date, a droplet discharge apparatus (for example, an ink jet printer) provided with a recording section (for example, an ink jet head) that performs recording (printing) on a recording medium (for example, printing paper) by discharging droplets (for example, ink), and a drying section (for example, a heater) that performs drying of the discharged droplet is known. As such a droplet discharge apparatus, JP-A-11-115175 discloses an ink jet printer that includes a plurality of heaters that are divided in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the recording medium, and is provided with a control mechanism that turns on or off the plurality of heaters in accordance with the state of the printing (recording).
However, there has been a problem with the ink jet printer disclosed in JP-A-11-115175 in that it is not possible to effectively utilize a plurality of heaters. Specifically, although it is possible to turn on or off the plurality of heaters depending on the printing state, the positions at which individual heaters are disposed are fixed, and thus it is not possible to easily change the positions. Accordingly, there has been a problem in that it is not possible to effectively use heaters which have been turned off.